Puerto Rico's secretary of commerce José R. Pérez-Riera was interviewed by Jim Varney on Fox News about the possibility of becoming the 51st state. Pérez-Riera was reasonable in asserting that Puerto Ricans just want the same rights as other American citizens. Whether you agree with statehood or not, it is an argument worthy of consideration. But all Varney could say is: "you want money... all you want is money." Apparently Varney only had three words on his briefing notes, because he was like a weird robot who kept saying, "You just want money, admit it." Then Varney suggested Puerto Rico get statehood on a level lower than the other 50. What Varney misunderstands is basic US history. (Given his British accent, and bizarre concept of statehood, I'm guessing he never had an American history class.) So here is the skinny.... story continues....The Northwest Ordinance codified an idea that was in force from the beginning: any new state gets all the same rights as the other states. Americans don't want to create any second-class states-- because we had a bad experience that way... when we were A COLONY!

Secondly, throughout American history, there has always been a presumption that any territory would eventually become a state... or be given independence. In the Philippines, for example, statehood was considered, but eventually the islands were given their independence instead. It's kind of like tenure. After a period of time, you get it--or you're out. Statehood always worked that way. Puerto Rico is the only US land (with a state-sized population) that has remained in this limbo. Watch Varney's bizarre interview above.

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